Monday, November 21, 2011

Just another quick little post to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my lovely lovely friend and partner in all things paper-crafty - LISA!!!!!!

Really really hope you have a lovely birthday today my friend - I am so grateful to have someone close by that understands my crazy love for paper and glue - I LOVE sharing it with you!!! You are just the best - so wonderfully inspiring, and your 3D projects especially blow me away.

I have a fun little project to share with you today - this idea kind of just hit me out of the blue and I'm so glad it did because I LOVE how its turned out!!!! :)

I started with a pile of wood looking like this...

and ended up with them looking like this!

I have been holding onto some remnants of Christmas DSP from two years ago for the perfect project and thank goodness I had enough to do this - they have been my fav set of Stampin' Up! Christmas papers ever so I'm so so happy that I'll be able to look at them every year from now on! hehehhe

So the idea with this Advent Calendar is that under each block is attached an activity for the day. Once we've completed the activity for the day the block can just be turned around so just the paper is showing. I'm still undecided whether to leave them lined up in order like this or to make them a little random and all over the place. It will probably depend on where I decide to place it - its where it is at the moment just until I decide what to do with it - oh - and waiting till the first of December would probably be a good idea too!!!! hehehhe

I'm so excited for Christmas this year and have so many ideas floating around in my mind of things to make - so hopefully I'll have more to show you over the next couple of weeks.

And here are just some close up shots of some of my favourite blocks...﻿

I can't actually tell you where this wordy paper comes from - it was just in my stash but is one of my absolute favourites!!!! I love blue in Christmas things...﻿

How gorgeous is this sparkly green design - yum yum yum!!!

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And here's a row of some of the papers all together - they just co-ordinate so perfectly. I LOVE it!!!

The blocks are all slightly different sizes which I am loving too - it all adds to the random-ness of the project.

And just to end I thought I'd pop on a little photo of my sleeping beauty - getting so chubby now and just so much fun with the smiling and little chats we have sometimes. We are so blessed with such a gorgeous gorgeous baby girl...I love her to bits!!! :)

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Well, in an effort to be a more regular blogger I thought I'd share with you some craft I made a little while ago.

One of my closest friends was celebrating her 30th birthday and I wanted something a little special to give her, and had heard of the idea of a money tree where you give a $1 for every year of their life. So I set about making my own version﻿...

I could NOT figure out a way to photograph it - this was the best I could do!

Basically a tree branch stuck in a pot of clay and made to look pretty. I did my very best to make it look as pretty as possible though. :) I made these little pouches to slip the coins in using the heart punch and some ribbon, and hung them on the branches...and made lots of these little flowers as well.

And this was the matching card - a CASE from the IB&C with my own take on it.

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A rather impractical gift perhaps - really just fancy packaging, but lots of love went into it and it was fun to make, and most importantly pretty to look at! :)

My husband is away on Senior Camp this week so I am looking forward to less housework and more crafting!!!!!! While the cat's away the mouse will play right! :) :) :)

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Ok - I PROMISE that I will be a better blogger here on out!!!! This year we have been SHOCKING and it has to stop! hehehehhe.

And to start the ball rolling I thought I'd show you some photo's of the swap card I made for the Brisbane Regionals last weekend...

Really bad photo's I know - I still haven't sorted out a good place for taking photo's...﻿

Anyway - this is the green version - I've used Always Artichoke - and can I say I LOVE this green for Christmas - so lovely and deep and subdued. Paired with Cherry Cobbler and Very Vanilla - I really really like this colour combo.

So - its a Always Artichoke base. I've added an embossed layer and then used the new Log Cabin Smooch Spritz on the background - on the green it looks more like the spritzer tool, but on the red the lovely glittery-ness really shows through.

To that I've added a Top Note using the new First Edition DSP (LOVE!!!!) on which I have stamped the family image from 'Season of Joy' and then I have glued over the top a Vellum Top Note onto which I have stamped the wreath image from the same stamp set. I have used a pen to colour in the little berries. I really really liked the effect - just nice and soft. Finish it off with some flowers and that yummy yummy seam binding ribbon and I was done.

And here's the red version...

I did alternate the colour of the sentiments but other than that the two are exactly the same. I made 40 of these and was thoroughly sick of them by the end. :)

And this is the only action shot I got on the day - Lisa will KILL me for sharing it but it was the only one! :) Lisa took lots herself so hopefully she'll be able to share a few soon. :)﻿

I am IN LOVE with all things papercraftey and love love love to get inky! This is my small part of blogland to share these loves with you! Stay a while, take a look around, browse through my creations - hopefully you'll enjoy your time here with us...

My Partner in Crime

I'm Lisa and although I am not into Facebook, My Space or any type of online sharing....Adele has managed to coax me into being on a blog with her! Luckily it's all about Stampin' Up and creating some pretty things. You'll discover I am a very inconsistent blogger and that Adele is really the driving force and the creative brains!! Lucky she's my friend right!!!

The contents of this site is the sole responsibility of Adele Francis as an Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator and the use of and the content of the services, classes and products offered on this personal blog are not endorsed by Stampin' Up! Images copyright to Stampin' Up! 1990-2010 unless otherwise stated.